Today, DeVonte Smyth was charged with first degree murder of Ruben Ivy. Ivy, 18, who died Friday, was the eighteenth student to die this year in Chicago.
 
Police are saying that the shooting of Ivy and the beating of another student arose from gang activity.
 
Gangs. It seems like they’ve always had a handle on Chi-town, sucking kids in with a terrifying force that they seemingly can’t resist. I’ve had one gang member tell me, “It’s hard to get out of the hood. So I might as well be the hood.”
 
Well, if this is the mindset we’re dealing with, what can we possibly do? I know I’ve boosted CeaseFire in the past, but seriously, it seems like a pretty good solution to me.
 
Charlie Ransford, one of CeaseFire’s crime analysts, says that shootings in Chicago have increased dramatically since August, when the program lost funding. In September 2007, there were around 225 shootings, up from nearly 170 last year, he said. In October, there were approximately 200 shootings, up from roughly 150 in 2006.
 
People keep dying, adults and children alike. So, as the Senate deliberates whether or not to reinstate CeaseFire I’d like to turn their attention to stories like this. Could we have prevented Ivy’s death?
 
Some factions of the state are not too pysched about giving CeaseFire the money that it needs to survive. A few months ago, I talked to Gov. Blagojevich’s press secretary, Gerardo Cardenas. He said that the state government has made it “very clear” that CeaseFire must find other funding.
 
Well, I hope the Senate feels differently. Because this is our priority in Chicago, to make sure that kids don’t kill each other anymore.
 
So, before Emil Jones axes the funding proposal that the House unanimously passed, I’d like to turn his attention to Ruben Ivy. Eighteen deaths in less than three months is unacceptable. Let’s fix that.

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